Summer of Fiction Writing stuff first. I didn’t realize until this morning when I went it to check them that I’d forgotten to write down all steps of my clear goals.
So the first thing I did this morning was that. They’re on the forum, but I’m reposting them here as well.
My Summer of Writing Fiction Clear Goals:
My Summer of Fiction Writing Goals
- Note: If you want to play, login first or create your free account: https://hollyswritingclasses.com
- Then: http://hollyswritingclasses.com/go/SOFW-forum.html
A smack on the forehead here… I wrote down what I wanted to accomplish this summer in the “discussing what we’re going to be doing” thread, but failed to actually write my own goals here (the SOFW forum). Went looking for them last night, because I wanted to check them against what I was doing in my bullet journal, and… eep. Nothing.
So, somewhat late to my own party, here’s what I’m doing:
My summer FICTION goals are to get clear through the worldbuilding and plotting of The Emerald Sun: Moon & Sun 3and to have about 70,000 words done on the first draft of Book 1 of the Ohio Series.
Along with that, I’d like to have Dead Man’s Party and The Wishbone Conspiracy revised and to my editor (Matt). If I can only finish one revision in that time, it has to be DMP, because that’s the one that’s becoming the Accelerated Revision Bonus Demo for How to Revise Your Novel as soon as it’s finished.
My clear target is:
- Finish the first draft (or first 70,000 words, if I overrun my planned word count) of The Ohio Series: Novel 1 TOS: N1
- Do the complete revision of Dead Man’s Party – DMP – for both the How to Revise Your Novel class (as the demo for the streamlined “once you’ve done a few in-depth revisions” process
- Worldbuilding and plotting for The Emerald Sun (Moon & Sun 3): M&S 3
My reachable deadline is:
- TOS: N1 – August 31
- DMP Revision – June 30
- M&S 3 – START DATE: July 1 — COMPLETION DATE August 31
My working days are: Complicated…
- TOS: N1 – Wed/Thur/Fri
- DMP: Monday
- M&S 3: Monday
My method of measuring progress:
- TOS: N1 – Word count — 2000 words per day average
- DMP: Read and mark up the entire manuscript fast as possible while still doing a good job — pretend it’s a commercial revision deadline with a great slot bump if I hit it, then…Move on to type in, and complete the entire type in over the remaining time, throwing in Marketing Tuesday and weekend if needed.
- M&S 3: As follows …
— Both M&S 1 and two fully read and annotated with yellow stickies on the important bits
— Toys on Floor identified
— Plot built in line-for-scene fashion in my Scrivener novel template, so that I am ready to start writing the novel while the TOS: N1 cools.
My end goal:
- TOS: N1 – Complete first draft finished and ready for its pre-revision cooling period
- DMP: Novel revised and ready to send to bug hunters
- M&S 3: Complete novel outline in Scrivener, reference books (M&S 1 and 2) marked, tagged, and on desk ready for referral as needed.
My daily goal, and number of available days:
- TOS: N1 – 39 days, average of 2000 wpd
- DMP: 7 MAX… 4 if things go well.
- M&S 3: 9 best case 10-12 if things don’t go well and I have to use some Marketing Tuesdays
My leverage — WHY I need to do this:
- TOS: N1 – This is my first foray in years into urban fantasy, and I’m going in with a brand-new pseudonym and essentially starting over, with the hopes of building an audience focused just on my urban fantasy. It’s a major career experiment in trying to build a comfortable income from my fiction — and getting my fiction to feed my family better than the canned beans lifestyle it’s offered with few exceptions since the beginning would let me put half my work time into writing new fiction.
- DMP: The How to Revise Your Novel class is getting a long-needed revision later this year, and the Dead Man’s Party revision is going to be the brand new Accelerated Revision DEMO Bonus. Gotta get it done.
- M&S 3: Because I promised I would finish the series for the kids who read the first two books years ago. My word has to mean something — I have to keep that promise.
And then Today’s Words
The story flew, and I had a hard time stopping so I could get to the other tasks on my list. I kept wanting to find out what happened next — and what happened next was never what I thought was going to happen.
I finished my provisional outline yesterday, and though things never happen the way they do in the outline, the outline makes sure I include important events, don’t forget characters, and don’t forget the “ending, or better” that I’m writing toward.
So today, my goal was 2000 words and in my allotted time, I got 2667. It was an AWESOME writing day.
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